


come with me, the time is right

by chocobos



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pokemon, Cute-but-exasperated Bones, M/M, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Jim, this is probably the most ridiculous thing i have ever written
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2013-03-18
Packaged: 2017-12-05 16:39:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/725503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocobos/pseuds/chocobos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first, he thinks it's a very unfortunately colored, very <i>big</i> dog, but once the stars fade from his vision, he sees that the creature most definitely is not a dog, but is quite obviously an <i>alien.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	come with me, the time is right

**Author's Note:**

> So. I saw Max's cute and adorable fanart [HERE](http://kaz1701.tumblr.com/post/45461381007/jones-pokemon-au-with-a-heaping-side-of) and I kind of, was like, 'oh god I definitely need to write this' only it's now more based off a general idea than anything? Yeah. And it has actual plot? Sighs forever. This really was only supposed to be a drabble. My bad.
> 
> So um. 
> 
> Any/all mistakes are my own--by the way, every Pokemon in here is a Pokemon in the game, aaand I took some major creative license in some areas. 
> 
> Here is a Jim/Bones Pokemon!AU.
> 
> The fic the fandom never, never asked for.
> 
> Yeah.
> 
>  **ETA** : I've realized how many awful mistakes I've made in this damn thing, and I've fixed all of the ones that were glaringly obvious. I'm so sorry I didn't catch them sooner, I posted this delirious at like, two in the morning last night, so I was obviously not in the best state of mind to edit a fic. I hope all of the mistakes are caught, now! :D

 

Here's the thing: if people would've told Jim he would be a motherfucking Pokemon collector when he was a young boy, he probably would've laughed in their faces--not just because Pokemon weren't even real (he'd never even heard of them), but because nothing that cool happened to Jim, like,  _ever_.

And yet. Here he is, making dinner in the small kitchenette that he and Bones share with their odd collection of Pokemon. He's not quite sure what it says about him that he still has to pinch himself some mornings to make sure this all isn't some ridiculous dream and he's not actually stuck at 'home' in some dingy, unidentifiable apartment, with disgusting wallpaper hanging off of the walls, miserable and alone.

He's not, dreaming he means, thank god.

It's still surreal, though, waking up in a bed next to someone (a someone that he loves and would do anything for; fuck, Jim never thought he would actually have that, let alone be able to keep it). He's not used to it, yet, doesn't think he'll ever get used to it, because Jim had long since accepted that he wasn't made for anything extraordinary. His father died in a freak accident before he was born--something with rogue 'animals' and misappropriated machines; it's not a 'something' Jim thinks about often--and his mother made a nurses shitty salary work while trying to raise two young boys. His childhood was anything but glamorous.

Hell, his life was anything but glamorous.

But, then--

Bones happened. Pokemon happened. Everything changed, after that.

*

Jim meets Leonard McCoy when he's fourteen.

He's on his way home from school when a random burst of color attacks him, the force of it knocking him straight on his ass. At first, he thinks it's a very unfortunately colored, very  _big_ dog, but once the stars fade from his vision, he sees that the creature most definitely is not a dog, but is quite obviously an  _alien_.

An aggressive and senile alien, from the way the thing knocked him to the ground a couple seconds ago. An alien with some hardcore vengeance towards unsuspecting human folk, maybe? Jim isn't sure.

He probably doesn't want to know.

"I'm not dangerous! Or armed." Jim squeaks out, holding up his hands in a defensive motion. He would try to shove the thing off of him, but it's incredibly heavy, and while Jim works out often enough, he doesn't have superhuman strength or anything.

Man, that would be awesome right about now, though.

"Don't be frightened!"

Jim looks pointedly at the alien--holy  _fuck_ it can speak--before realizing the voice came from his left, and looks up in time to see a boy a couple years older than him stop on the side of him, staring disapprovingly at the creature perched on Jim's chest.

"Hi," Jim greets, a little breathlessly. "Can you please call Animal Control? Actually--maybe calling the FBI or something would work out better, because I'm pretty sure _there is an alien on my chest_  right now, and I'm really close to freaking the fuck out."

The guy laughs, and with a simple motion of his hand the thing gets off of his chest and bounds up to him. "You've never seen a Pokemon before?" He asks, a little incredulously. He pets the, what did he call it, Pokemon? on his the head, scratching behind it's ridiculous ears and Jim very nearly has a heart attack.

He could lose his hand, or even worse, his life, and the guy is petting it like it didn't just attack an innocent bystander five seconds ago. Either the guy knows what he's doing, or he's fucking nuts.

He's probably nuts. Jim is never lucky enough for anything else.

"Is that an alien speices?" Jim asks, curiously, after a few moments.

It's better to know what they're going to die from. Jim is nothing if not morbidly curious, he thinks.

The guy blinks grumpily at him. "You really don't know what Pokemon are?"

"I'm guessing they're not an alien species then?"

"They're Pokemon. Didn't you learn anything in school?" The guy asks, and takes out this baseball-like ball.

The thing disappears.

Jim gapes at the space where it used to be. "Did you...fuck, man, did you  _transport_ that thing? Where did it go?" His voice was nearing hysterics now, probably.

It doesn't matter, because Jim has quite possibly met an alien today, and the guy in front of him may or may not hold the secrets to destroy the entire universe with that weird, ball-like shape-thing in his hand. Jim probably has just met an evil mastermind, and instead of running away, he's laying on the ground questioning him, which, yeah, okay--

The dirt is hard, and uncomfortable, and Jim would very much like to get up now.

He does.

The guy is staring at him, still, quite possibly in disbelief, and disgust. Jim isn't sure.

"Have you been living under a damn rock?"

"I...uh, no?"

"You mean you don't know?" The guy asks, with an amused, smug quirk to his mouth, and if Jim wasn't so unsure about whether or not this dude was about to kill him--with his weird little alien creature as a sidekick--he probably would've punched it square off his face.

Jim scowls. "I mean, I'm not exactly sure why you haven't killed me yet?"

"I'm not a murderer!" The guy squawks, and then looks between Jim and the ball again. "You really don't know what this is?"

Jim shakes his head. "I'm still going with the whole alien theory."

The guy sighs, and makes a gesture between the two of them. "Clean up. You've got a lot to learn, and I'm starving. We're not going to a diner with you looking like you just rolled in the mud for fun."

Jim is about to say no, but his stomach makes a truly pathetic noise, and yeah, he could go for some food. Weird, murderous guy and creature be damned.

*

They stop by the diner that Jim hadn't frequented since he was a young boy. It looks exactly the same from when Jim remembered it, if not a little more updated. They pick a back corner booth, and Jim has to squash down on the panic that rises up in his chest at the thought that his would be the perfect spot to murder someone in a semi-public place and get away with it.

Especially for an evil mastermind.

Jim is not entirely convinced this guy is not out to kill him, really.

"What's your name"?" Jim blurts because he's nervous.

"Leonard," the guy says, "Leonard McCoy--" he flicks Jim's fingers from where they're fiddling with the silverware on the table with an annoyed expression. "Will you stop your messin? You goddamn infant."

Jim blinks. "Dude, you can't be that much older than I am, what's with the pet names?"

Leonard glowers. "Your name?"

"Jim," Jim says, reflexively, and then immediately regrets it. Shit.

That probably wasn't the best decision. The guy could quite easily be using an alias.

"I'm not going to murder you," Leonard says, dryly. "You can stop having an aneurysm, now."

"I'm not having an aneurysm." Jim says, even though he's quite obviously seconds away from one.

"Right." He snorts. "I'm sure this whole, denying the obvious thing you has worked out perfectly for you before."

"Just," Jim says, and waves a wild hand. "Tell me what exactly happened, back there, I mean. You called them Pokemon?"

Leonard nods, but before he can answer, the waitress comes over to take their drink orders. "Two waters, please."

Jim raises an eyebrow, but wisely doesn't say anything.

"They're called Pokemon," he says, clutching the ball in his hand tightly. "I know they're not common around these parts but--I've never met someone who didn't know what they were."

"Pokemon," Jim repeats, disbelieving.

"Pokemon," Leonard confirms. "They're..hard to explain, but there are hundreds of different species of them, probably more we haven't discovered yet.

"And you," Jim says, waving his arms towards him, "Expect me to believe that these things are real, and that this isn't some side effect of some random hallucinogen that I could've accidentally ingested? Or that maybe you're just a very convincing, very recently escaped mental hospital patient?

Leonard stares at him curiously. "You don't look like a drug user," he says, thoughtfully. "Do I look crazy?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Jim," he says, wearily. "They're Pokemon. They're quite well-populated, actually. I'm not sure why they're not really found around here."

"How do you know about them, then?"

"I'm not from around here," Leonard shrugs. "Moved here a couple months ago with my mama. I've been trying to keep them happy and healthy in my home, because I've yet to see people with them here, or even out in the brush, but they've been getting antsy. Specially this one." He taps the ball in his hand.

"I see," Jim says, though he totally calls bullshit on this dude. "What is that one called, exactly? Is he dangerous? Do I need to go get a Rabies shot, now?"

If so, Jim is not looking forward to that at all.

"He's a Ninetales. They're one of the most intelligent species," Leonard says, and then laughs. "They're quite vengeful, actually. You're lucky, he could've cursed you."

Jim snorts. "Right."

Leonard's expression is grim. "I'm not kidding you, Jim. They've been known to curse entire families, before. You're just lucky he's well trained."

Jim's stomach drops out. "You're serious."

"Deadly."

"And you're absolutely positive these things aren't some extraterrestrial race that is only here to take over the planet?"

There's a ghost of a smirk at the corner of Bones' mouth. "I'm positive."

*

So, Pokemon get introduced to him. Quite begrudgingly, actually.

Jim isn't entirely convinced that Leonard isn't playing some hoax on him until he meets his entire fleet, and then he has some supscions that his ultimate goal is to take over the world, one oddly colored creature at a time.

(He keeps that part to himself, mostly--he doesn't think Leonard would take very kindly to Jim's doubts, no matter how rational they happen to be.)

Leonard is patient with him. Jim has questions, a lot of them, really, but he doesn't get too annoyed with him, beyond the exasperated sighs and weary stares, at least. He's a fast learner, though, and once he actually stomachs the idea of little colored monsters roaming around the world, they're actually kind of devastatingly adorable.

*

"Are you going to make a career out of this?" Jim asks, one night when he and Leonard are spread out on a blanket underneath the stars. Leonard's Ninetales is curled up between the both of them, her head resting on Leonard's belly, with his Jigglypuff flanking his other side ("Don't make fun of her," Leonard said, all scowly and broody, "She was a gift from my mother. I wasn't about to refuse her, and anyway, she's good company," He pointed at Jim, who had merely held up his arms in a 'I-am-not-thinking-about-laughing-at-this' kind of motion, even though he was hiding his giggles underneath a poorly executed coughing attack).

"Out of what, Jim?" Leonard asks, tiredly.

"Pokemon."

Ninetales makes a distressed noise against Leonard's stomach, and he has to stop her protests to the thought of him abandoning her. Jim doesn't have to look to feel Bones' disapproval grate against the side of his face. "I'm thinking about it, yeah. For a while I wanted to be a Professor--a researcher, like my mentor was. Now I'm thinking about working in a Poke Center."

Jim hides a smile in the crook of his elbow. "So, like a doctor for Pokemon?"

"Yeah."

"It fits you, Bones," Jim says.

He doesn't even complain about the nickname.

*

Jim catches his first Pokemon when he's sixteen.

He could've caught one sooner, but he wanted to do the proper research to see what Pokemon would fit his personality--and him--the best. He didn't want to go out there and catch the first Pokemon he saw just for the hell of it, and Bones had stayed up with him most nights, flipping through his Pokedex and the PokeJournals Bones' father left in the box of belongings he brought with him to Iowa.

He eventually decides on a Growlithe. They're fiercely loyal to a fault, and they breathe fire; what else could someone possibly want in a Pokemon?

They plan a trip to months out to the region they're found in--it's not easy to get to, and because they both rely on bicycles as their main source of transportation (neither one of them have a flying Pokemon that can carry two almost-grown adults, or a car) they have to make the trip at a time when both of them are out of class and don't have any outside obligations. He makes sure they bring enough Poke Balls for a small army and enough food to last them a few days without having to stop by a market.

Growlithe's aren't the easiest to catch, but they're certainly not the hardest, either, and while Jim is still considered novice--he has yet to even catch a Pokemon--he's well-trained and has Bones, who is sort of like some scarily smart Pokemon-prodigy to help him if he needs it.

He's fairy confident he'll catch it, in the end.

*

Maybe that's why everything goes to absolute  _shit_.

*

As it turns out, disturbing a nest full of Growlithe pups isn't exactly Jim's smartest idea.

It's not that he means to do it, it just kind of happens, like that time Bones' Ninetales attacked him and unknowingly started a legendary friendship, or that time Jim accidentally got one of his mother's prized pearl necklaces stuck in the garbage disposal. It's not like he intentionally sought them out to happen, they just did, because bad luck followed Jim Kirk like a particularly nasty shitstorm.

Extraordinary things don't happen to Jim Kirk, but shitty things do. And regularly.

"What the fuck were you  _thinking_ , Jim?" Bones screeches at him, undignified and too loud while they're running for their lives away from a decidedly pissed off Arcanine with a protective streak.

"I was  _thinking_ ," Jim wheezes, and almost trips over a branch. He doesn't even have time to think about the fact that there shouldn't even be branches out here, because there aren't even trees, but, you know, he can't. He's trying not to die and all of that. "That I could sneak in there, stealthily, and catch a sleeping Growlithe with a PokeBall before I got sniffed out."

Bones groans, and Jim--Jim is actually quite impressed. "We're going to die! And I'm going to haunt your ass for eternity because of it," he declares, grumpily.

It makes Jim laugh. "Dude, if we both die, you can't haunt me, dumbass."

" _Watch me_."

*

Eventually, the Arcanine gets tired, or maybe it just thinks they're not worth the fight anymore, because somewhere between the fourth and fifth mile, Jim looks back and sees it's not chasing them anymore.

Jim collapses immediately. "Jesus Christ."

"What are you doing?" Bones hisses, and then stops when he realizes nothing is behind them but grass. "When did that happen?"

"I don't know," Jim says, faux-cheerfully. "But I think I might pass out."

"Don't be such a wuss, you big baby," he snorts, but he falls in a pathetic heep next to Jim, anyway, so his argument is basically rendered invalid.

"Shut up," he tries to punch him in the shoulder, but ends up grasping grass instead. "This was not how I envisioned this weekend would go."

"Really? I had no idea." His voice is desert-dry, and Jim has a wise crack on the tip of his tongue (he always does, really), before he sees movement form the corner of his eye.

"Bones," he hiss-whispers, lifting up his head and seeing a lone Growlithe prowling through the underbrush, looking for food, presumably. " _Bo-nes._ "

"I hear you, you infant," Bones grumbles, and looks up to see what Jim's eyes are locked on. "Shit."

Jim smirks, grabs a PokeBall and some PokeTreats and creeps towards it, hushing Bones' indigiant protests along the way.

*

In the end, it's all very anti-climatic.

The Growlithe is furious, at first, and tries to make a run for it, but Bones and Jim have it cornered against some bushes that it can't slip through, and before it can attack them, he throws a PokeTreat at it's feet.

There's dead silence for about 1.42 seconds, and then it makes a happy, ridiculous sound in it's throat; Jim can't help but wonder how hungry it is, in order to get excited for them, but hey, he isn't complaining. Jim looks at Bones, who is making a 'go on' gesture with his head and hands, so Jim awkwardly throws a PokeBall at the Growlithe's hunched form.

It sticks.

*

"How does it feel?" Bones asks, with this grin that Jim has never seen before on his face.

"Great," Jim says, holding the PokeBall fiercely to his chest.

"Good."

Jim smiles at him.

Good, indeed.

*

Jim is twenty-one when Bones kisses him for the first time.

He's twenty-one, and they just purchased an apartment together, a charming, two-story loft with too much space for two grown adult men. But, it has more than enough for all of their Pokemon to spread out happily with them. It's in the middle of the city, with the Poke Center Bones works at a doable distance away and Jim's college only a couple blocks more east. It's perfect, for them, at least.

Jim's unpacking a box--it's one filled to the brim with nick knacks and the occasional journal or Pokedex--when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He ignores it, thinks it's his Growlithe pitifully begging for more food, before he remembers his Growlithe is in his PokeBall in the living room, with the others. He's just about to turn around to see what it is when he hears Bones' voice. "Jim, stop over-analyzing this, and look at me."

Jim does.

He's not sure what he was expecting, maybe for Bones to hand him some of Jim's things that somehow got mixed in with Bones', or maybe asking what it was exactly Jim wanted for dinner ("None of that takeout shit Jim, do you hear me? That's killing your cholesterol"), but it definitely wasn't Bones surging forward on nervous feet to kiss him, insistent against his lips. Jim can't stop the surprised sound that escapes his throat like he wants to, and his hands grip Bones' hips tight on his on accord, before he can really think it through. Not that there's much to think about or anything, because he's possibly been wanting this for years, suppressing the urge to kiss his best friend senseless because he wasn't sure he was allowed to have more.

Jim pulls away, before it can escalate, no matter how much he doesn't want to. "What's was that, Bones?"

Bones' bright hazel eyes are half-lidded, dilated and  _debauched_. It takes all of Jim's self-control not to press Bones into the carpet to kiss him senseless--it's probably a good thing he doesn't, too; the mysterious stains are not quite so mysterious up close.

"What did it feel like, idiot?" Bones asks, fondly, fingers reach out to grip Jim's neck affectionately.

Jim rolls his eyes, leave it to Bones to be infuriating and insufferable, and instead of answering, he just leans forward to kiss Bones again, fingers curled tightly in the lapels of his jacket.

They can talk later.

*

Jim is twenty-three when he realizes that Bones, the Pokemon, this life they've built together in this too-big apartment are  _it_ for him.

There are no explosives. There is no jaw-dropping, counter-clenching, bone-crushing realization like he almost expects, instead he's chopping up chicken in the kitchen, with their Audino helping cut the vegetables, but mainly she's watching Jim make an utter fool of himself--he's almost cut himself twice since he started and it has absolutely nothing to do with his sudden realization, really. Bones is laid out on the couch, probably reading some PokeJournal about some new, unorthodox way to treat injuries (he's never pleased with anything, not that Jim blames him, while the technology used to heal Pokemon is better than what it was even ten years ago, it's not exactly foolproof yet, either), or something equally as ridiculous.

Their Audino is looking up at Jim curiously, her blue eyes staring unblinkingly, and while it used to creep Jim out at first, it does nothing but calm him now--that may or may not be because of her freaky, touch esp-thing, now that Jim thinks about it, though.

"Don't look at me like that," Jim says, waving a hand towards the greens she's ignoring in favor of looking at him. "Finish cutting your vegetables first."

She turns away from him, her feelers fluttering like crazy, and Jim has half a second to think it's absolutely adorable before remembering he has a real, sharp knife in his hands that he's using to cut meat that he's no longer paying attention to.

She stares at him, again, like she catches him catching himself, almost disdainfully and he scowls. "None of that, now." He says, and then pets the top of her head.

She coos at him.

He has to escape before he falls for her charm again and spends the next hour cuddling her.

(It's happened before. It's not something Jim likes to think about.)

*

He walks into the living room, places a tender kiss at the top of Bones' head, and smiles at the way Jigglypuff is perched on his lap, trying hard to read what it is that's on the PokeJournal, her cheeks turning red in disappointment and anger when she can't quite make out the words.

"She's going to blow if you don't put that away soon, Bones," Jim smirks.

Bones slaps at the hands trying to pull it away. "I'm reading that."

"And I missed you," Jim murmurs, fingers catching on his wrist. "I haven't seen you all day."

Bones' expression softens immediately at that. "I know, kid," he says, fond and light, and leans up to kiss Jim's lips softly. Jigglypuff squeals as he does, and Jim would be annoyed if he wasn't so enamored with her.

Bones laughs, ruffles the tuft of Jiggly's fur at the top of her head, and smiles at Jim. "How's dinner coming?"

"Good," Jim says, "Before Audino decided to try and charm me."

"I better play my cards right. Before I know it, Audino will have you wrapped around her finger."

Jim scowls. "Don't be ridiculous." He was particularly, fond of her, though.

But, Bones definitely won out.

Bones just lifts Jigglypuff of his lap, and places her next to where Raichu is sleeping peacefully, his cheeks glowing in the dim light of the living room. "Let's go make sure Audino doesn't charm the food, huh?"

Jim knows Bones is teasing him, but his snarky reply falls off of his tongue when Bones slaps his ass and then ruffles Audino's ears in the same breath.

Instead, he doesn't say anything and turns back to the meat he left behind to find it sliced perfectly into slin slices, and Audino may or may not be looking pretty damn proud of herself, but instead of getting annoyed, or angry, he just tips his head back and laughs.

He's pretty content, meddling Pokemon be damned.

**Author's Note:**

> Embarrassingly enough, the title itself is taken from the Pokemon Theme Song.


End file.
